New changes in the H-1B Visa program likely to please tech companies

The Department of Homeland Security has published a new H-1B Visa rule in January. The H-1B Visa program admits 85,000 Immigrants every year. This year they have decided to give higher priority to Immigrants with postgraduate degrees from the US Universities.

Mr. Francis Cissna, the Director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services has talked about the rule with The Newpaper. He said that the US employers who seek to hire postgraduate Immigrants would get priority over others. Immigrants with a US master’s degree or higher qualification would have a greater chance of selection in H-1B lottery.

The tech companies in the US have been pleading for more Immigrants to fill the skilled positions. Also, for a long time, the H-1B Visa program has been exploited by the tech giants. Some outsourcing companies tend to depress wages by replacing US employees. Hence, strict action had to be taken. The new rule aims at removing any such misuse of the H-1B Visa program.

Mr. Todd. Schulte of the Immigration Reform Group FWD.US expressed his opinion on the matter. According to him, the new modifications are a positive step in the right direction. The tech companies are hopeful that these new changes would bring a constructive impact on them. In the past, the H-1B Visa program was not administered the way they’d wished. Mr. Ed Black from the Computer and Communications Industry Association confirmed it.

However, Mr. Ed reinforced that it is too soon to offer any opinion on the impact of the new H-1B Visa rule. The tech companies are not unhappy with the recent changes. Also, they believe the revisions would improve the efficiency of the Visa program.

The H-1B Visa program was introduced back in 1990. Ever since it has been used for a number of Skilled Occupations. Initially, it was meant for nurses and pastry chefs. Over the years the focus shifted towards the computer-related jobs. At present, three-fourths of the employees are recruited from this profession. Most of them come from India.